NOTORIOUS London restaurant critic AA Gill has been invited to the North . . . to meet the people he labelled the “ugliest in the nation”.

Mr Gill, who regularly serves up barbs to the nation’s eateries, dished out his latest offensive attack on the people of Penrith in Cumbria.

In his piece last week in the Sunday Times he wrote: “My abiding gastro memory this year is of a granary bap that had the consistency of gritty candyfloss and was filled with finely minced bright yellow cheese from the rootless international pandemic of cheddar.

“This was in Penrith, the Lake District, where the locals, in stark counterpoint to their surroundings, are the ugliest people in the nation.

“That’s despite fierce competition from the Scottish Borders. I’m immune to the charm of Cumbria, a small prejudice inspired and sustained by a lifelong vegetative disgust of Wordsworth.”

His remarks left locals boiling . . . an Eden District Council spokesperson said: “AA Gill’s comments are very blinkered. Penrith is a very popular market town full of character typified by its myriad specialist shops.

“Both local people and visitors enjoy being fed and watered in the town’s eateries and the excellent produce available at local farmer markets, and from award-winning companies such as Bells of Lazonby, Cranstons, The Village Bakery and, of course, Penrith Toffee Shop, whose many customers include the Queen.

“We would like to invite AA Gill to return to Penrith and see the best of what the town has to offer. Clearly, he has missed out on seeing what attracts nearly two million people to visit Eden District each year.”

Mr Gill was reminded that Emmerdale beauty Roxanne Pallett is from the area, as is one of our Miss Sunday Sun girls, model Lucy Boulton, 19.

And it is not just the women that are attractive . . . Hollywood heart-throb Charlie Hunnam, who has starred in blockbusters Children of Men and Cold Mountain, also lived in Penrith.

Mr Gill went on to say there was nowhere in the area he would enjoy eating, despite the town’s award-winning restaurants, including the renown- ed Michelin-starred Sharrow Bay Country House Hotel, which was the original creator of sticky toffee pudding.

Jennifer Holliday, Penrith Market Town Initiative project manager, said: “It is a pity that AA Gill is so shallow that he thinks it is only looks which matter.

“If he had bothered to get beyond this hang-up he would have found that the people of Penrith are kind friendly, and helpful folk.

“Before his inappropriate comments, I am sure that on any visit to the town Mr Gill would have experienced a warm welcome from the kind-hearted people of Penrith . . . perhaps not now.”

We tried to contact Mr Gill for comment but were told he was away in Madagascar.